Beating The Bounds: An 11 mile parish boundary walk

bee orchid

Tortrix viridana, Green oak tortrix alighted on Wendy's hand during our picnic at Westland Green

Cinnabar moth

Red kite at Hadham Hall

Dock bug Coreus marginatus

Pyramidal orchid at Hadham Hall

Azure damselfly

female blackcap

small tortoiseshell

meadow brown

small heath

comma

Earlier this week, Wendy and I set off to walk the entire Little Hadham Parish boundary. In places there is no footpath actually on the the boundary, but we were never too far away. In total, the walk was just over 11 miles and the plan was to record all forms of the local natural history as we went. Consequently, we took the whole day to cover the distance, beginning at Tesco, Bishop's Stortford, just 800 yards from the boundary at 8.20 and returning to the car at 4.00pm. In all, we recorded 44 bird species, 11 butterfly species, several moths, 3 dragon/damselfly species and numerous flowering plants including bee orchid and pyramidal orchid.

4 spotted chaser dragonfly

Calf near Danebridge, Much Hadham

distant common buzzard

All along the route there were pleasing stands of wild flowers, such as these poppies and thistles on a field margin.

Black and yellow longhorn beetle, Rutpela maculata.

Bird species:

• whitethroat
• chiffchaff
• blue tit
• blackcap
• green woodpecker
• magpie
• chaffinch
• wood pigeon 
• wren
• yellowhammer
• nuthatch
• blackbird
• skylark
• great tit
• robin
• spotted flycatcher
• song thrush
• carrion crow
• swallow
• dunnock
• great spotted woodpecker
• buzzard
• lesser black backed gull
• jackdaw
• rook
• jay
• red kite garden warbler
• house sparrow
• red legged partridge
• herring gull
• kestrel
• pheasant
• reed bunting
• goldfich
• mallard
• goldcrest
• moorhen
• swift
• linnet
• house martin
• coot 
• grey wagtail
• hobby

Butterfly Species:

• Large white
• small white
• comma
• small tortoiseshell
• peacock
• large skipper
• meadow brown
• small heath
• ringlet
• speckled wood
• red admiral

Route in thick black line, parish boundary in thin pencil line. Comments refer Countryside Access Officer, Mr. Maddex, to parts of the route that require cutting back, which will be done in the coming weeks. Worst place were over the River Ash at Comment 2 and  Comment 5 where we had to knock back the encroaching nettles.